> Alstom signs a €160 million contract with PGE to modernise the Bełchatów power plant in Poland

Alstom signs a €160 million contract with PGE to modernise the Bełchatów power plant in Poland

Wednesday, Apr 08, 2009

PGE, the biggest energy group in Poland and one of the biggest energy groups in Europe, signed with Alstom Power a contract concerning the retrofit of Unit 6 in the Bełchatów power plant, Europe’s largest and the world’s second largest fossil power plant with a total installed power output of 4,440 MW. Alstom Power will provide modern equipment which will enable an increase in power output, economic efficiency and safety. This contract is worth approximately €160 million.

“It is an essential project both for PGE Bełchatów Power Plant S.A. and for the entire Polish Energy Group. It will allow for a considerable modernisation of infrastructure in Unit 6, which will not only increase its power output and efficiency, but will also extend lifetime. In addition, a very important point is that the emissions of NOx and CO2 will be limited”, said Krzysztof Domagała, President of PGE Bełchatów Power Plant S.A.

The retrofit will allow the unit to work within the frame of the new regulations (Directive 2001/80/EC), with a 50% reduction of NOx emissions and a reduction in CO2 emissions by over 400,000 tonnes/year, while ensuring a 20 MW increase in the unit’s power output or a 41% increase in the unit’s efficiency. Furthermore, the modernisation will improve availability and reliability, as well as extending the unit’s lifetime by 20 years.

The scope of the modernisation covers the reconstruction of the boiler and its auxiliary equipment, replacement of high pressure and intermediate-pressure part of the turbine, increasing power output of the generator and installation of new high-pressure heaters.

“This is the first major integrated retrofit project in Poland and we are very pleased to be able to work on this unique opportunity”, said Philippe Joubert, President of Alstom Power. “This project will benefit from Alstom’s expert knowledge of turbine and boiler technology, our proven track record in integrated retrofit projects, as well as our position as leaders in clean power production.”

In 1997-2004, Alstom carried out contracts regarding the modernisation of the low pressure parts in 12 turbines at Bełchatów, a first step in the upgrading of power capacity. Since then, PGE has continued its strategy of modernising units 3-12 in order to meet emission requirements imposed by the EU directives and in order to extend the lifetime of the units. Alstom was awarded a contract to provide a turnkey, 858 MW new supercritical unit to the plant. On 8 December 2008, PGE and Alstom signed a memorandum of understanding for the development and implementation of carbon capture and storage technology at Unit 12 of the Bełchatów Power Plant 9. This pioneering project, developed in collaboration with the Dow Chemical company, puts these companies at the forefront of carbon capture and clean power technologies. At present, Alstom is executing retrofit projects of HP and IP parts in steam turbines operated at Units 4 and 5 (to be finalised in 2009 and 2010-11 respectively).